Scotch Eggs

 After John posted his story about the "Scotch Egg Incident" I decided it was high time I tried a scotch egg.

I'm the kind of cook who dislikes doing pretty much anything in batches (except maybe Anzac Biscuits) but I couldn't find anywhere to buy scotch eggs so I decided I'd have to make my own.

I'm also the kind of cook who never makes anything to the recipe but as the scotch eggs were something new to me I fully intended to follow a recipe.

Until I went to the butchers and thought a couple of disemboweled Italian sausages would be a nice addition to the sausage mince in the recipe.

I brought the mince home and put it in the freezer but somehow the sausages languished in the fridge and had to be given to Milly who thought they were delicious.

So, I was back to the sausage mince and eggs. I wrapped the eggs in mince (plus salt & pepper, cumin, paprika and powdered garlic) It was going better than expected and then there was an opportunity to watch tv with Caitlin so I ditched the idea of crumbing the eggs and just put them in the oven without the crumbs. At this point the Scotch egg afficianados are probably pulling hair out in horror.

They worked out to be acceptable but not amazing. I think a better quality mince would have made a huge difference and I still think Italian sausages would be a good addition.

When asked if I would do it again, I said no but on second thoughts, they probably deserve to be done better.

I've finished nearly all of the small amount of Christmas shopping I'm going to do. My car passed it's safety inspection which I was a little concerned about so I don't have to worry about that for another year and just this morning I finished writing a sermon I've been battling with for over a week. It's nice to be asked to preach and I enjoy researching and mulling over a topic.

The lead up to years end is looking busy and I'm a little bit ragey already so if I get over stretched or under appreciated things could take a dive........

I need to drag myself from the knife edge but I'm unsure how to do it. I still have stuff to learn, it seems.

Snapshot

 I miss the days when I blogged more regularly but somehow it seems that the less I blog, the more fussy I become about what is a good topic. And so it's a catch 22 where I edit new ideas out of existence and don't blog and then become even harsher with the editing!

In the absence of  anything more significant to say, let me give you a dot point run down of what's current:

Reading: The Kindness Revolution

Wearing: pink hair and thrifted gems

Eating: Portugese tarts

Watching: Hoof Doctor videos (weirdly fascinating)

Cooking: roasted parsnip

Dreaming: of travel 

Craving: chocolate 

Enjoying: coolish weather before summer hits hard

Playing: Wordle and Waffle

Cowra/ Canowindra Long Weekend

Well, here are the long awaited photos from my weekend away.

The Lachlan River runs through Cowra and the bridge over the river has these huge pylons which were graffiti central until somebody decided to put art on them. It's made a feature of what must have been an eyesore.

During WW2 there was a Prisoner of War camp at Cowra, specifically chosen because it's a long way from nowhere. The night the prisoners arranged to break out has gone down in Cowra's history. Australian soldiers who were killed in the breakout or who were Cowra locals and died as a result of the war are buried at the War Cemetery.

The Japanese Garden 

"The 231 Japanese soldiers who died in the escape were buried nearby and local members of the Returned Service’s League tended their graves. As mutual respect grew over the years between Japan and the citizens of Cowra, the idea of a garden arose which would be a symbolic representation of the landscape of Japan."

Back to the bridge! I thought I edited this particular photo to show less mud but apparently not.

More Japanese Garden

The Japanese Garden and whats left of the POW camp have been made into parkland and together called the "Peace Precinct" 

I guess it has snakes but I didn't see any.

'Scuse fingers, haha! The grapevine on the motel really made it feel welcoming and lush.

We went to a concert at a lovely plant nursey in the neighbouring town of Canowindra. The nursery seemed to have very few plants and a lot of covetable homewares. The grand piano was set up in the cafe/ shop area. Locals tell me Nerida is the local piano teacher and also owns the nursery. It has the makings of a lovely cultural hub.

Poppies at the visitors information centre. They were on their way out so I was glad the timing allowed me to see them. The spring weather also meant that there were lots of naturalised fruit trees flowering on the road edges.

Time has mostly stood still in the Canowindra main street, which makes it pretty and a sought after movie location. I was too busy talking to take more photos, though!

Water tank art in the Peace Precinct

Back to the War Cemetery

I took this photo for Keaghan who is a 4WD enthusiast.

Another Canowindra cafe and gift shop, called Finn's. What a delightful place to linger over lunch. It was the old General Store and close inspection revealed the original bins for bulk goods and spices. I'm sure there were other treasures to appreciate if I'd looked harder. This place hosts the monthly men's lunch, which is a great initiative allowing rural men to get together and support each other. 

I think I took a photo like this one on my last visit to the Japanese Gardens, 29 years ago. I wonder how it would compare?

Thanks for road tripping with me!